You're the reason
Roland stormed in the living room. He was really mad. Why did he have to stay at home and Henry could just go anywhere. Anyway, it seem to him Henry was allowed to do everything. Not fair!
He sat down next to his four year old brother Tom, who played with his toys on the carpet. After a while Tom looked at his older brother with his big brown eyes and asked: "Where is Henry?"
Roland growled. Everything always seemed to be about Henry. "He is gone for the week." "Where did he go?" "To Emma's. You know that!" Due to his pissed mood he grew impatient with Tom.
"But why?" Tom asked in a confused tone. "He lives with us. With mommy and daddy!"
"Well, because he is not really our brother!", Roland snapped. Tom gave him a horrified look. "You are mom's and dad's child, I am dad's child, but Henry, he is not really mom's child. She just adopted him. He is really is Emma's child."
On the other side of the living room door, holding the handle of the door, stood Henry.
He had forgotten his math book and had rushed back to get it. He had rushed home. But maybe this wasn't home.
The way home was filled with sad thoughts. He might me eighteen now, but in this moment he felt like a little child. His br… Roland was right. Regina had only adopted him. Because Emma didn't want to keep him. Because Neal had left her and unknowingly also him. Emma always said she wanted to give him his best chance, but she didn't even want to try to give him that herself. And she couldn't have known he would end up with Regina, in a good home. He could have just spend his life in the foster care system, like she had.
Well, maybe the best way was to talk about things with someone.
So he made his ways to his grandparent's loft. His grandmother opened with a bright smile, but as she saw it was him, she looked a bit shocked. She stepped out of the loft and closed the door behind her. "Henry, what are you doing here?" A bit confused about his grandmother's behavior, he said: "Well, I just walked by and wanted to ask if I could come in." Before answering, Snow flew back in and he heard voices. "Who was it, Snow? Why didn't you let them in?", he heard his grandfather David. "It's Henry!", she hissed. "Henry, well he can't come in. Just tell him to leave. We don't need him here.", it came from his grandfather. The strange thing was the voice did not belong to David, but his other grandfather Rumpelstilsken. 'We don't need him here.' 'He's not really our brother.' The words echoed in his mind as he ran down the stairs and out of the house. Didn't anyone want him?
"Henry.", Snow said as she came back to the door to find that he was gone. "Well maybe he needed to get home for dinner."; Belle assumed, as Snow closed the door. "I really think he could have stayed. And gave us his mind.", David said. "But where would that leave the surprise? We can pick him a good car without his opinion. And then he will be happy when we give it to him as his graduation present.", Rumpel declared, as he sat back down looking at the various car catalogs spread out at the Charming's table. "So, where were we? Oh right, Mercedes."
"What's going on, lad? You have been quiet all day.", Killian asked at the dinner table. Henry just kept on pinching his fork in his broccoli and looked away. "I'm fine."
Not convinced at all, Killian exchanged a look with Emma, who was currently cutting Dawn's food.
"Can we have cookies after dinner, mommy?", Dawn asked. "Why don't you first eat your dinner and then we talk about desert, sweety." Emma answered with a bright smile.
Henry flinched. Dawn got all Emma's attention from the day she was born. He was glad she was happy, but watching her happy childhood hurt really much at this moment.
Emma saw her son getting sadder, so she turned her attention from her daughter to her son.
"And, Henry, are you excited for your camping trip with Robin and your brothers this weekend?", she asked hoping to get a happy reaction. He had been looking forward to it since Robin had told him about his plans.
But Henry just shrugged. "I'd rather not go. In fact, can I just stay here for a while? I don't want to stay at Regina's for a time." "Did something happen?", Killian asked even more concerned. "No, is it wrong to stay here? I just want to give Regina and Robin a bit space. And sure Roland and Tom will be glad to have them for themselves."
After dinner Henry rushed to his room, as he heard Emma on the phone. Sounded like she was talking to Regina. After today he should really not eavesdrop, but he just wanted to know what they thought about him.
"Regina will come for dinner tomorrow. And Robin cancelled the camping trip. I wonder what's on that kid's mind." "Emma, you know he is not a kid anymore. He will soon go to college." "You think he will like what we have planned?", she asked worried. "Maybe not. He loves his room and this apartment. But he has to live with it." He heard them sitting down on the bed and kissing. "Well, I hope he doesn't mind. But I just can't wait until September." September? He was moving out to college in September!
"We'll have more space. And even a spare room.", she continued. "Hopefully not for that long. After our little baby boy in here is born, I can't wait to have one more.", Killian mumbled lovingly.
They were going to throw him out! He will leave for college and they will be happy to get rid of him. Emma couldn't wait for him to move out! And was losing his space in the apartment and in the family.
"Henry?" He got startled by the little voice coming from behind him. "Dawn. Not nice to sneak up on people."; he said with a said voice and made his way to his room. "Well, I'm a pirate! And daddy says pirates have to be good at sneaking up.", she said with a proud voice following him. "Do you want to play with me?" Dawn gave him a hopeful smile. "No. Got homework."
He expected her to leave but she just gave him genius laugh. "Silly Henry, it is Friday. You never do homework then!" The little black haired girl ran to his room and jumped to his bed. "Come Henry, play!" Laughter shook her as she dragged her brother to his bed with her little arms. With a weak smile he gave in and sat down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her little form and hugged her tight. A loving and happy smile grow on her face as she snuggled to him.
Well, there was someone who really loved him.
The next day was unexpectedly declared to hold a family dinner at the Jones apartment.
Andrew, Neal and Tom were playing on the carpet while Belle and Snow helped Killian with dinner.
"Why now? It's usually on Sundays. And why here?", David asked his daughter confused. She looked at her son, who was currently playing with Dawn, apart from the other children. He had said it was because Dawn wanted to play with her Disney princess dolls and the boys wouldn't want that, but she knew her daughters stubbornness well enough to know she would just make the boys play with her.
"Henry seems a bit… I don't know…troubled. But he doesn't want to talk about it. And Killian noticed since he got home last night he was distant and hasn't said 'mom' or 'dad'. Neither about us nor about Regina and Robin." "Oh no, and we have shut him out, yesterday. And basically sent him away. He must have heard what we said. About not wanting him there.", David admitted with a guilty face and change looks with Rumpel, who had the same expression on his face.
Dinner was really quiet. Every attempt to address Henry and get him to join a conversation was useless. "What do you say about cake? Regina brought her famous apple pie. Her sons' favorite", Snow declared to lighten the mood. But Henry immediately got up and left the table.
Now Regina had enough. "Henry Mills, what is going on? You don't just leave family dinner!" "Why shouldn't I? No one cares about me anyway!", he shouted as he turned back to the table. He picked his sister up and carried her to his room. "Except for her.", he mumbled as he left the room.
Now his mothers and grandmother got up and followed him. He sat on the floor and played with his sister. But he had a sad face. "What is wrong, Henry? You can tell us." Regina sat down next to him. She attempted to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he just moved away from him. After sending Dawn out with Snow, Emma sat down on his other side. "Please, tell us what is troubling you?"
Henry was focused on looking at his hands as he tried to fight the tears whelming up. "Why do you even care? You will be glad when I move out! Can't wait to get rid of me. And why would you need me now that you have another son!" Emma's heartbroken and shocked expression was mirrored in Regina's. "I heard you and Killian last night. You can't wait for September. And you are happy to have a spare room." "Oh honey, we would never get rid of you. We love you. And I promise when you leave for college we will all cry so much you will be embarrassed your whole life." Now Emma tried to comfort him, but was also rejected.
"Well, you already got rid of me once. You didn't want me. And Regina wanted me to be her family, but now she and Robin have their real family they don't need me. Roland was right. I'm not your child." "I'm sure Roland didn't mean that. He is very grumpy sometimes nowadays. And he loves you. And you are his brother. You belong to us. You are not getting replaced by anyone. Not by Tom and Roland and not by Liam. We all love you Henry." Now Regina didn't let herself be rejected by him and wrapped her arms around him. He struggled at first but then gave in and let his tears fall.
"But Emma…", he sobbed and looked at his other mother. "Baby, we wanted to surprise you and your sister. We found a house for us. With five bedrooms. So that we will have more space once Liam is born. You and Dawn will both have bigger rooms. And it's nearer to Regina's. It will have a spare room. But not because we want to replace you. It's because you showed us how happy children make us. How better life is. And your grandfather's said they sent you away yesterday. But only because they wanted to surprise you with getting you a car for your exam."
Now Emma hugged him too. "Why do you think we have this family dinner? It's because of you. Because we all love you. Because you make us a family. You bind us together. You're the reason for this family.", Emma mumbled through her tears into his hair before planting a kiss there.
Later while eating his pie he looked around his family. Bandit, thief, pirate, savior, little sorcerers, heroes, villains, they were all here because of him. His family. How could he ever doubt that.